Optimal location of landfills and transfer stations for municipal solid waste in developing countries using non-linear programming

The design of Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems (MSWMS) is one of the fields where optimization techniques have been used in different places. The aim of this study was to develop a mathematical model for the optimization of MSW Transportation System, in order to assist waste management institutions, and local governments to minimise waste transportation time and cost. Non-linear Mixed Integer mathematical model, with the objective function to minimize the time and cost of waste transportation, was developed and solved using Microsoft Excel solver. The developed model was applied to a case study city situated in South Africa. The application of this model to this case study has provided an approximate decrease in total transportation cost per week of 2.04%. The novelty of this research lies in the simplification of the existing mathematical model and the development of a new approach to solve the non-linear model.